Doggie Bistrohttp://doggiebistro.com
Good Health & Good Food For Our DogsSat, 15 Mar 2014 07:53:41 +0000en-UShourly1https://wordpress.org/?v=4.6.10A New, Quick Way To Make Homemade Dog Treatshttp://doggiebistro.com/a-new-quick-way-to-make-homemade-dog-treats/
http://doggiebistro.com/a-new-quick-way-to-make-homemade-dog-treats/#respondSat, 08 Mar 2014 22:34:52 +0000http://doggiebistro.com/?p=713I don’t usually have time to bake dog treats but this biscuit mix looked so easy, I had to try it. It was so simple and only took about 15 minutes to get the treats ready to bake. Another benefit–it uses all natural ingredients so I felt good about giving them to my dogs. Oh, and boy did my dogs love them!

Here’s where to find the biscuit mix and cookie cutters shown in the video:

]]>http://doggiebistro.com/a-new-quick-way-to-make-homemade-dog-treats/feed/0Starting Your Own Dog Bakery…Where to Get the Very Best Infohttp://doggiebistro.com/starting-your-own-dog-bakery-where-to-get-the-very-best-info/
http://doggiebistro.com/starting-your-own-dog-bakery-where-to-get-the-very-best-info/#commentsSat, 14 Dec 2013 02:12:29 +0000http://doggiebistro.com/?p=698It’s not easy to find good credible information on the dog treat business. This video will point you in the right direction!

For those dog lovers who really enjoy baking, what could be better than making money creating healthy, tasty treats that dogs will love? It sounds like a great way to make a living!

Natural, additive free treats are in high demand these days, especially in the wake of the pet food contamination scares. If you think about it, what pet owners–given a choice–wouldn’t want to give their best friend a healthy treat that was free of artificial dyes and chemical preservatives? When you add the demand for healthy treats to the fact that there are over 67 million dogs in the United States alone, the profitability picture starts to look amazingly bright.

Speaking of profitability, the profit margins in the dog bakery business tend to be rather high since you can make each treat for only pennies and can charge several hundred times your cost. A dog bakery can also be a fairly low cost business to start. In many states–but certainly not all so you need to check–you can transform your own kitchen into your dog bakery and find most ingredients in your local grocery store. Packaging your product can be as simple and cost effective as using paper bags with labels that you print out on your computer so your product costs can stay rather low.

As far as recipes go, we have a free collection of recipes here, and a little additional research on the internet should help get you started. You may need to perform several taste tests with your own dog and other neighborhood “volunteers” to make sure you have got it right and it wouldn’t hurt to run the recipes by your veterinarian too, just to make sure you are on the right (healthy, premium) track.

Recently, I discovered a wonderful new resource, K9Cakery.com, which has everything you need to get started and more. They even have a homemade dog treat mix, a dog cake mix, icings and other decorations for your treats, cookie cutters–really, it doesn’t get much easier than this! If you are interested in this idea at all, you should check them out.

Need more information? We’ve found two really good start up guides and recipe collections that deserve a closer look. Getting the best information will help you get started right and shave hours off your learning curve time:

START UP INFORMATION:

Bake a Dog a Bone – A step by step start up guide for extreme pet business profits written by two very seasoned and successful professionals (one was a senior mgr of PetSmarts food and treat group). Includes 150 recipes designed by pet nutrition experts.

Starting Your Own Gourmet Dog Treat Business – Great advice from an insider with 10 years of success who can help you navigate the start up of your new business. She also includes a lot of extras and over 400 gourmet dog treat recipes to get you started.

Homemade Dog Treats – A set of (2) eBooks filled with easy to make dog treats including special occasions, cakes, icings and more at a very affordable price.

]]>http://doggiebistro.com/you-can-start-your-own-dog-bakery/feed/13Human Foods that are Unsafe for Your Doghttp://doggiebistro.com/human-foods-that-are-unsafe-for-your-dog/
http://doggiebistro.com/human-foods-that-are-unsafe-for-your-dog/#respondThu, 05 Sep 2013 04:21:18 +0000http://doggiebistro.com/?p=367It’s natural to want to share our food with our dogs, but if you do this, it’s very important realize that not all human foods are good for our dogs. In fact, some of our favorites are positively dangerous and should never be shared no matter how adorable or intense the begging becomes.

You’ve probably already heard or read that chocolate isn’t safe for dogs to eat and that is absolutely true. Dark chocolate is the most harmful because it contains the highest concentration of the toxic ingredient theobromine. Depending on the dosage and the size of the dog, theobromine may cause a dog to vomit and have diarrhea, seizures, panting, frequent urination, excessive thirst,hyperactivity, abnormal heart beat and sometimes die. Milk chocolate contains less theobromine and therefore is less toxic than dark chocolate while White chocolate, with the least amount of theobromine, is the safest of the three. Even so, it’s best not to feed your dog any chocolate at all, why take the risk? (Plus, that way you get to eat all the chocolate yourself, it’s a win-win.)

Onions are another human food that isn’t healthy for our dogs. It’s not a common poisoning, but it does cause anemia, and may hurt the kidneys. We’re not talking about the small bit of onion that may be in the leftover stew or meatloaf. Dogs need to eat quite a bit of onion to become ill – approximately 1/4 ounce of onion per pound of his body weight, which is quite a lot.

You might be surprised to learn that a sugar substitute that many consider a healthy alternative is actually quite toxic to dogs. Xylitol, a popular sugar replacement used in sugar free cookies, gum, toothpaste, and other foods, can be deadly to our dogs. Its effects are twofold-not only can it can cause low blood sugar with seizures and vomiting, it can also lead to liver failure, vomiting, lethargy and loss of coordination. Be very careful to check all sugar-free product labels for Xylitol. Truthfully, I don’t allow it in my home anymore after a few close calls with our dog and gum belonging to one of my teens. Since Xylitol poisoning can be fatal, having it around just doesn’t seem worth it.

Grapes and raisins are a popular, healthy snack so it may surprise you to find out that these common foods can harm and even kill your dog. Strangely, no one really knows what ingredient is in grapes that causes this toxicity or why some dogs can eat grapes and have no problems, yet others can become deathly ill. We do know that it damages the kidneys and the damage, which starts within hours, can be so severe that the dog stops producing urine. Unfortunately, if this happens, he’s unlikely to survive. Pretty scary, right? I was shocked when I first heard about this, having given grapes occasionally to my dogs for years without problems. I guess I was lucky–and so were my dogs!

Considering how common some of these toxic foods are, it’s probably a good idea to make sure you know which foods are unsafe before you share them with your dog. I’ve listed just a few unsafe foods above but we have a more complete list of the Common Foods that are Unsafe for Your Dog for you to read here. Please read the list and make sure your family members are familiar with it also. You might want to consider posting it on the refrigerator for easy reference for everyone.

If you are in doubt about a food and it isn’t listed, check with your veterinarian before you ever feed it to your dog. If he does manage to eat something poisonous, call your veterinarian immediately or the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center’s 24-hour emergency hotline at (888) 426-4435.

]]>http://doggiebistro.com/human-foods-that-are-unsafe-for-your-dog/feed/0A Shortcut to Making Your Own Dog Foodhttp://doggiebistro.com/a-shortcut-to-making-your-own-dog-food/
http://doggiebistro.com/a-shortcut-to-making-your-own-dog-food/#respondThu, 29 Aug 2013 16:20:09 +0000http://doggiebistro.com/?p=334In a previous post, I talked about how I got tired of the scary dog food recalls and rumors of horrible ingredients and stopped buying grocery store kibble. The alternative plan was to go ahead and make homemade dog food for my dog River which definitely felt like the right thing to do.

I did make River homemade food according to the recipe I gave in the earlier post and he really liked it. Making the food was a bit labor intensive for my busy schedule but I would have continued to do it anyway if I hadn’t run across a great time saving short cut. I’m all about short cuts as long as I don’t have to forfeit anything important.

Fortunately, there is a company, Sojourner Farms Natural Pet Food Company, which offers what they call “pre-mixes” that you just combine with meat and water and presto, you have fresh, homemade dog food in minutes. This seemed like the best of both worlds–I get to control the quality of meat that I give my dog and they make it safe, simple, and convenient for me to feed my dog healthy, premium dog food. Sounded good, really good.

I checked Sojourner Farms out and found they’ve been making pet food in their own facility for 25 years and are committed to using only human-quality ingredients that are safe, healthy and free of contamination. In fact, co-owner Maggie Johnson had this to say about both quality and safety: “It has been a great relief for our customers to know that we don’t use any feed-grade ingredients, by-products, or chemicals in our products, and that all of our grains are locally grown in the Midwest. And, considering that[one of] the recent high-profile recall[s] is due to contaminated wheat gluten and corn, people feel safe knowing that all of our dog food is wheat and corn free.” This was just what I was hoping to hear and now it was time to order.

The first thing I noticed when ordering was that they have no shipping charges! That’s fantastic since shipping charges are something I had previously considered a real down side to ordering any dog food online because of the product’s weight. For dog food, I had three types to choose from: Original–which needs meat and veggies added, Grain-Free–which is a “just add meat” mix, and their Complete mix where all you add is water. I have a German Shepherd that scratches a lot and may be allergic to some grains so I chose the Grain-Free mix. Sojourner Farms suggests you transition to this food–well, any new food–gradually so I followed their guidelines without any difficulty.

My dog River, who is a finicky eater really seems to love this food. I’m sure the fact that I add 1 1/2 cups of meat to 1 1/2 cups of mix helps him to eat it with gusto! The mixing wasn’t a big deal and just takes a few minutes – quick and easy. A great side benefit is that I no longer have any guilt about the quality of food I’m feeding River–I actually feel good about making a safe and healthy choice for him. I’m so glad I took a chance and gave Sojo’s a try. (By the way, River’s itching seems to have stopped entirely.)

I used to feel pretty secure about feeding my dog until the 2007 and 2010 Pet Food Contamination Recalls showed me what a false sense of security that actually was. Since then, even though I love the convenience and price of grocery store kibble, I get this unsettled feeling nagging at the back of my mind whenever I feed it to my dog. Am I doing the best I can for him? Or even second best? I really doubt it and I’m guessing there has to be a better answer…

Homemade Dog Food

Like a lot of other concerned dog owners, I started looking around for a healthy and safe alternative to grocery store kibble. I finally decided that going the homemade route might be the answer, as long as I could figure out what the right ingredients were. Doing a little research turned up lots of suggestions and a simple, workable recipe for homemade dog food:

Ideally, you want to feed your dog a diet that is rich in high quality protein, but protein is not the only type of food your dog should be eating. About 1/2 of your dog’s diet should consist of meat, about 1/4 should be grains like oats, barley or brown rice, and the last 1/4 should be vegetables and fruits. Now there are lots of fruits and vegetables you can incorporate into your dog’s food but you should avoid cooked bones, onions, avocado, potato, nuts, fat trimmings, grapes, raisins, citrus fruits, mushrooms, sugary and salty foods andany of the foods on this list.

Which Vegetables? Which Fruits?

The recipe above is a really good guide but it may leave you wondering which meats, fruits and vegetables are best to feed your dog. Sojourner Farms Pet Food Company, maker of the excellent Sojos brand of homemade dog food pre-mixes, has these suggestions:

“We recommend USDA beef, chicken or turkey (ground or whole from the grocery store or butcher, or frozen meat patties sold in your local pet store). Always use safe handling methods when dealing with raw meat.”

How Much to Feed?How much should you feed your dog? I went by the suggestions Sojos gave for their pre-mixed foods here and it worked well for my dog. My suggestion is to go by that and then watch and see if your dog is staying at the right weight. If not, just adjust the food quantities accordingly.Bone appetite!

If you Need More Information…

Here are two good sources of information that we feel are very credible and have stood the test of time:

Andrew’s book is an eye opener, believe me. Once you find out what actually goes into most dog food, you will be horrified. Fortunately, there are viable alternatives to mass market dog food. And, according to Andrew, not only can you keep your dog from dying young, you can increase your dog’s lifespan up to 134% by simply following the advice he provides in “Dog Food Secrets.” This is definitely something every dog owner needs to know.

Imagine knowing, in just a few hours, exactly how to feed your dog to quickly get ASTONISHING results! John Miller, professional dog-fancier, shows you how to do exactly that as he reveals 245Secret Recipes along with the reasons why he refused to sell them to multi-national dog food companies. Their loss is our gain!

Most people have heard that they shouldn’t give their dogs cooked chicken bones. However, veterinary dentists are now recommending that pet owners do not give their dogs bones of any type, and this has been backed up by the US Food and Drug Administration. “Some people think it’s safe to give dogs large bones, like those from a ham or a roast,” says Carmela Stamper, D.V.M., a veterinarian in the Center for Veterinary Medicine at the Food and Drug Administration. “Bones are unsafe no matter what their size. Giving your dog a bone may make your pet a candidate for a trip to your veterinarian’s office later, possible emergency surgery, or even death.”

Here are the potential risks involved:

Small bones such as chicken bones can get wedged in the roof of the mouth, between the big upper molar teeth. Although this isn’t life threatening, will frighten your dog, and can cause abrasions to the gums.

Bones can also present a choking hazard, as they may be swallowed and get stuck in the back of your dog’s throat, requiring emergency treatment.

Even large marrow bones aren’t safe. These are hard enough to break your dog’s tooth, which can lead to painful gum infection and tooth root abscesses.

Some bones can get stuck in the gastro-intestinal tract and cause a blockage, requiring surgery to clear it. Even worse, if a shard of bone actually pierces his intestine, it can lead to peritonitis, a potentially fatal infection of his abdominal cavity.

A bone can get stuck in the esophagus, the tube that food travels through to reach the stomach. Your dog may gag, trying to bring the bone back up, and will require a visit to your veterinarian.

Your dog may have a hard time passing the bone fragments because they’re very sharp and they scrape the inside of the large intestine or rectum as they move along. This causes severe pain and may require a visit to your veterinarian.It’s also possible that bones can cause your dog’s feces to become very hard, which leads to painful constipation. If this happens, he may need an enema and laxatives to help him pass his bowel movements.

If you buy into what the FDA is saying–and there are many who aren’t entirely in agreement–then the trick is to figure out how to keep your dog’s teeth clean if you can’t give him a bone to chew on. Since most dogs have periodontal disease to some extent before they reach 3 years old, an effective substitute must be found.

Another simple and safe solution is to brush his teeth! The current recommendation from veterinary dentists is that you need to brush his teeth at least once a day, preferably twice. One of the easiest ways to do this is to use a finger toothbrush. These are made out of silicone and have soft rubber bristles. You can put them on your finger just as you would a finger guard, add some toothpaste made especially for dogs and just rub your dog’s teeth with your fingertip.

If you can give your dog safe bone alternative and find five minutes once or twice a day to clean your dog’s teeth, he will have a healthier mouth. He will also have fresher breath, which will make it much nicer to cuddle up next to him on the couch.

]]>http://doggiebistro.com/fda-bones-are-unsafe-for-your-dog/feed/0Making Easy Homemade Dog Treatshttp://doggiebistro.com/making-easy-homemade-dog-treats/
http://doggiebistro.com/making-easy-homemade-dog-treats/#respondTue, 23 Mar 2010 22:40:51 +0000http://doggiebistro.com/?p=556Easy, step by step instructions on how to make your own healthy dog treats. The recipe is included so you can get started making these tasty treats right away.
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